An International Examination of Assurance Practices on Carbon Emissions Disclosures

This paper provides a detailed examination of the assurance practices for carbon emissions disclosures for an international sample of 3008 companies across 43 countries between 2006 and 2008. The demand for such assurance services was found to be mainly from companies in Europe and companies from carbon intensive industries, with a majority of these engaging specialist assurers. The results reported reflect the growth and evolving nature of this emerging market. Through providing an understanding of current practice in this dichotomous market our study provides important information for standard setters and regulators as they work towards establishing guidelines and standards to regulate this market.